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Monday update: I woke up this morning to a text from my son that my parents’ subdivision in Richmond was under a mandatory evacuation order due to the rising Brazos River, the uncertainty of whether their levees would hold, and the inability to help anyone if they failed. We had never worried that they were in danger, but we never expected the Brazos to flood more than 4 feet higher than the record floods just a year or so ago. After some research on safe routes I jumped in the car and made it easily, though it was eerie how few other cars were on the road during what would have been a typical Monday morning rush.

We managed to move most valuables up off the floor to higher shelves, and after a couple hours headed back to my place without incident. I’m in the southern part of Houston’s Montrose neighborhood, fortunately far from the bayous that are all spilling their banks. We learned this afternoon that the power went out at my parents’ subdivision in the middle of the afternoon. The Brazos is expected to crest tomorrow afternoon or evening. There is no telling how long it will take for the water to subside. Obviously Mom and Dad will stay with me until it’s safe to return.

We toss around “devastating”, “unimaginable” and other words to try to explain what is beyond explanation. Tens of thousands will be homeless for months. Several people have asked about charities for donations, so here’s an obviously incomplete list of some well-respected groups working in our community (h/t to @jiatolentino on Twitter):

Finally, I’ll suggest a group that aids the many, many, first responders who have worked themselves to exhaustion, even while their own families and homes are at risk: https://www.the100club.org/

We had over 6 inches of rain overnight and another 4-5 inches since this morning. Fortunately the forecasts are improving, but it’s far too late for many. The challenge that faces Houston is enormous — and we will meet it head on!

I don’t want to use this site to ever “plug” but we’re working hard to shuffle people around to free up space at our properties. We had some damage, so we’re working first to relocated our tenants in damaged buildings into buildings that are okay. Next we have staff and their family to house. But we have about 50 units left. At our midtown property we were able to free up 10-12 units (though I think 4-5 might have been taken today).
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Anyway it’s been a madhouse of people calling and emailing, and a short staff to answer everyone, but if you know anyone that needs a place ASAP, most of our stuff is inside the loop. http://www.fatproperty.com/map for a location of where we have units left.